Oscillating cylinder internal combustion engine

ABSTRACT

A modified two-cycle internal combustion engine with cylinders generally radially mounted within a housing and oscillating from true radial disposition during each cycle of the engine, the trunnions supporting the cylinders being fixed relative to the housing and being tubular and functioning as fuel inlets with valving ports to the cylinders closed and opened as the cylinders oscillate. As disclosed the engine is of pancake form with a master bearing plate rotatively mounted on a single throw crankshaft and connected by wrist pins with pistons. Each cylinder has an individual jacket and coolant is circulated from exterior of the housing into these jackets individually and thence into the relatively large volume interior of the housing and then returned for maximal cooling and since the coolant will ordinarily be oil in a closed pressurized system this oil also provides adequate lubrication.

[111 3,747,578 July 24, 1973 Primary Examiner--Al Lawrence SmithAssistant Examiner-Michael Koczo, Jr. AttorneyRoy L. Knox [57] ABSTRACTA modified two-cycle internal combustion engine with cylinders generallyradially mounted within a housing and oscillating from true radialdisposition during each cycle of the engine, the trunnions supportingthe cylinders being fixed relative to the housing and being tubular andfunctioning as fuel inlets with valving ports to the cylinders closedand opened as the cylinders oscillate. As disclosed the engine is ofpancake form with a master bearing plate rotatively mounted on a singlethrow crankshaft and connected by wrist pins with pis tons. Eachcylinder has an individual jacket and cool- 91/213, 92/119 F02b 59/009l/212, 213, 417/465 United States Patent Pickens [76] Inventor:

[22] Filed:

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mvsz v'rox PAUL D. PICK E NS OSCILLATING CYLINDER INTERNAL COMBUSTIONENGINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The principle of the two-cycle engineis notoriously old and oscillating cylinders are not new, beingdisclosed in several patents and having been actually developed in a fewforms. Radial engines of several types have been used successfully andconnection of several pistons are usually spaced along a multi-throwcrankshaft in in-line arrangement rather than in so-called pancakeengine form. The use of trunnions for tilting or oscillating cylindershas been previously developed but not combined with fuel inlet valvingby inlet ports in the trunnions opened and closed directly by theoscillation of the cylinders. Exhaust of the cylinders through therespective trunnions and forced routing of the coolant along thecylinders to spill into the larger space within the housing are notfound in prior art structures.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION As claimed, this engine has cylinders radiallymounted for oscillation on fixed trunnions within a housing, thetrunnions being inlets for fuel fed under pressure, through ports in thetrunnions and registering openings in the cylinders, these ports beingopened and closed by the oscillation of the cylinders, and theoscillation being generated indirectly by the throw of the crankshaftwhich is linked to the pistons by wrist pins in a master bearing plateto transmit the generally radially inward thrust of the pistons to thecrankshaft. The cooling system is unique in the provision of individualjackets for the cylinders fed from the exterior of the housing andopening, at the radially inward ends of the jackets, into the relativelylarge space within the housing, thus assuring a large volume of coolant,good heat transfer and at the same time giving good lubrication of themoving parts when oil is used as the coolant. A refinement of thestructure involves spring biased saddles mounted on the radially outwardends of the oil coolant jackets with tubular extensions through thehousing for connection with a source of pressurized coolant.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the basicengine; FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a similar sectional view showing the intake valve action; and

FIG. 6 is a similar sectional view showing a fuel injector and igniterincorporated in the cylinder.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT This invention isconceived as adaptable for use in a diesel or semi-diesel engine as wellas in engines relying entirely on spark plug ignition. As illustrated,the engine is designed for two-cycle operation with pressurized fuelinjection.

The engine is ideally constituted for flat or pancake construction, thehousing 10 having a base plate 12 and a peripheral wall 14 and what maybe termed a top plate 16, shown as circular. The plates 12 and 16 havealigned bearings 18 and 20 and oil seals 22 whereby a crankshaft 24 isjournalled axially of the housing, a throw portion of the crankshaftbeing shown in full lines at 26 and the axial position of the crankshaftin dash line at 24 in FIG. 2.

The number of cylinders is indeterminate but to accomodate two or morecylinders in the same general plane a master bearing plate 28 is mountedon the crankshaft, with the requisite number of bearing elements 30 toaccept wrist pins 32 whereby pistons 34 are indirectly connected indriving relation to the crankshaft.

Cylinders 36 are pivotally mounted on trunnions 38 which are mounted forfine rotative adjustment and locking as at 40. The cylinders 36oscillate about the trunnions 38 as indicated in FIG. 2, the trunnionsbeing tubular and serving as fuel inlets as well as exhaust pipes andalso as pivotal supports for the cylinders. Each trunnion has fuelintake ports 42, preferably in slot form as indicated in FIG. 3, and theadjacent portions of the cylinders have correspondingly dimensionedports 44, arranged so that with the cylinders in one position the ports44 register with the adjusted ports 42 to permit pressurized fuel toenter the cylinders as illustrated in FIG. 5. In another position of thecylinders the ports are closed as illustrated in FIG. 4, for thecompression and power stroke phases as the cylinders oscillate.

Exhaust port structure includes primary exhaust ports 46 in the side ofthe cylinders, an elbow conduit 48 leading therefrom to the exhaustports 50 defined by tubular portions in said trunnions 38, the exhaustports 50 being separated from the intake ports 42 by a solid portion orwall 52. It will be understood that suitable conduits will connect theintake and exhaust ends of the trunnions, respectively, to a source ofpressurized fluid fuel and further exhaust handling means as required.

Around each cylinder are jackets 54 which preferably extend the fulllength of the cylinders 36 and slightly therebeyond as illustrated inFIG. 3 to define the end chambers 56 which may communicate with therespective coolant inlet pipes 58 leading to the exterior of the housing10 for connection to a source of pressurized coolant, substantialsealing of the coolant inlet pipes to the jackets 54 being accomplishedby saddles 60 riding on the ends of the jackets and biased inwardly bysprings 62 encircling the pipes 58 and compressed between the casing andthe outer surfaces of the saddles. It is important that the coolant be alubricant so that the bearings 64 mounting the cylinders 36 and jackets54 on the trunnions are lubricated through channels such as thatindicated at 66 in FIG. 3. Since the jackets 54 are open toward thecrankshaft the entire internal space 68 is bathed in coolant and all themoving parts, such as the wrist pins 32 and crankshaft 24, arelubricated. A distribution oil manifold 70 may be used to feed thecoolant pipes 58 and a similar provision may be made for connection tocoolant outflow openings 72 as desired. The particular structure of themanifolding is thought to be unimportant in this disclosure, except thatit should be understood that some means such as a pump, internal orexternal, is required to assure forced circulation through theindividual jackets for maximal cooling.

Fuel injection means somewhat diagrammatically indicated at 74 withignition means 76, are incorporated in the cylinder head portion asshown in FIG. 6, and sealing snap-in plugs 78 or the equivalent are usedto retain the integrity of the jackets 54. It will be understood thatflexible conduits and electric leads will connect the fuel injection andignition means with exterior sources, not shown, of pressurized fluidfuel and properly timed electrical impulses, all of which structure iswell known prior art and unchanged by this invention.

The operation of the engine will be obvious from the foregoingdescription and drawings since the general principles of two-cycleoperation are adhered to strictly. The engine will run in eitherdirection depending upon which direction it is started, the startingmeans being outside the scope of this disclosure, and after starting thepiston at the top of its power stroke will be disposed as indicated atthe top of FIG. 2 and its valve 38 is closed as indicated in FIG. 4. Thepiston at the bottom of FIG. 2 is at the bottom of its stroke, its valve38 again closed, and the other pistons are in intermediate positions,one cylinder as indicated in FIG. 5 having its inlet valve 38 open forinjection of pressurized fuel, all according to well known two-cycleoperation. At this same instant the exhaust ports 46 in another cylinderare fully opened, as indicated in the lower part of FIG. 3, for purgingof that cylinder through elbow 48 and the trunnion exhaust port 50. Theelimination of all valves as such greatly simplifies the enginestructure. It is noteworthy also that since each cylinder is independentof the others in operation, the trunnions 38 can be precisely andindependently adjusted and re-locked in position for perfect timing ofthe opening of the ports for fuel intake and the closing of these portsfor compression and subsequent ignition. This feature adds materially tothe efficiency in operation.

I claim:

1. In an internal combustion engine:

an engine housing;

a crankshaft operatively mounted in said housing;

a plurality of cylinders arranged radially within said housing, eachcylinder having a piston connected to the crankshaft by an interveningmaster bearing plate rotatively mounted on the crankshaft, said pistonsbeing connected to said bearing plate by individual wrist pins, with allsaid pistons and cylinders and said bearing plate being in generallycoplanar arrangement, said cylinder having trunnion structure wherebythe cylinder is pivotally mounted on said housing to oscillate about theaxis of said trunnion structure; said trunnion structure being at leastin part tubular to define a fuel inlet, andsaid trunnion structure andcylinder having registering rotary valve openings directly communicatingsaid tubular trunnion structure with said cylinder in one position ofthe oscillating cylinder, and said openings in the trunnion structurebeing closed in another position of the cylinder. 2. An internalcombustion engine according to claim 1 wherein each cylinder has anindividual jacket; and means for circulating liquid coolant through thejackets.

3. An internal combustion engine according to claim 2 wherein saidcoolant substantially fills said housing, and cylinders and jackets areat least partially immersed in said coolant.

4. An internal combustion engine according to claim 2 wherein saidhousing has a coolant port and individual saddles in bearingrelationship with radially outermost ends of said jackets; and saidsaddles having tubular portions extending to the exterior of saidhousing and supporting the saddles in spaced relation on said housing,whereby pressurized coolant is circulated into and out of said housingas well as along said jackets for maximized cooling of said cylinders.

5. An internal combustion engine according to claim 4 and wherein saidsaddles are spring biased into substantially sealed connection with saidjackets.

6. An internal combustion engine according to claim 2 wherein saidtrunnion structure has tubular portions defining exhaust ports connectedwith exhaust ports in said cylinders.

7. An internal combustion engine according to claim 1 wherein there area plurality of said cylinders and wherein the trunnion structuredefining the fuel inlet of each cylinder is independently adjustable forprecise timing of the opening and closing of said openings.

1. In an internal combustion engine: an engine housing; a crankshaftoperatively mounted in said housing; a plurality of cylinders arrangedradially within said housing, each cylinder having a piston connected tothe crankshaft by an intervening master bearing plate rotatively mountedon the crankshaft, said pistons being connected to said bearing plate byindividual wrist pins, with all said pistons and cylinders and saidbearing plate being in generally coplanar arrangement, said cylinderhaving trunnion structure whereby the cylinder is pivotally mounted onsaid housing to oscillate about the axis of said trunnion structure;said trunnion structure being at least in part tubular to define a fuelinlet, and said trunnion structure and cylinder having registeringrotary valve openings directly communicating said tubular trunnionstructure with said cylinder in one position of the oscillatingcylinder, and said openings in the trunnion structure being closed inanother position of the cylinder.
 2. An internal combustion engineaccording to claim 1 wherein each cylinder has an individual jacket; andmeans for circulating liquid coolant through the jackets.
 3. An internalcombustion engine according to claim 2 wherein said coolantsubstantially fills said housing, and cylinders and jackets are at leastpartially immersed in said coolant.
 4. An internal combustion engineaccording to claim 2 wherein said housing has a coolant port andindividual saddles in bearing relationship with radially outermost endsof said jackets; and said saddles having tubular portions extending tothe exterior of said housing and supporting the saddles in spacedrelation on said housing, whereby pressurized coolant is circulated intoand out of said housing as well as along said jackets for maximizedcooling of said cylinders.
 5. An internal combustion engine according toclaim 4 and wherein said saddles are spring biased into substantiallysealed connection with said jackets.
 6. An internal combustion engineaccording to claim 2 Wherein said trunnion structure has tubularportions defining exhaust ports connected with exhaust ports in saidcylinders.
 7. An internal combustion engine according to claim 1 whereinthere are a plurality of said cylinders and wherein the trunnionstructure defining the fuel inlet of each cylinder is independentlyadjustable for precise timing of the opening and closing of saidopenings.